{"id":300,"date":"2017-02-15T09:03:38","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T15:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worship\/?p=300"},"modified":"2017-02-15T16:01:10","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T22:01:10","slug":"singing-faith-oh-praise-gracious-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worship\/300\/","title":{"rendered":"Singing Our Faith: \u201cOh, Praise the Gracious Power\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Today&#8217;s post is from John Weit, Program Director for Music in the ELCA.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-302 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/60\/2017\/02\/JohnWeitHeadshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"215\" \/>On Feb. 19, many congregations will sing \u201cOh, Praise the Gracious Power\u201d (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, #651) in response to the readings from Paul about Christ as our foundation (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1+Cor.+3%3A10-11%2C+16-23&amp;version=NRSV\">1 Cor. 3:10-11, 16-23<\/a>) and Jesus command to love our enemies (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Mt.+5%3A38-48&amp;version=NRSV\">Mt. 5:38-48<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Through the stanzas of <a href=\"http:\/\/ism.yale.edu\/people\/thomas-troeger\">Thomas Troeger<\/a>\u2019s hymn we give repeated praise to Christ described as \u201cpersistent truth,\u201d \u201cinclusive love,\u201d \u201cword of faith\u201d and \u201ctide of grace.\u201d The beginning stanzas go on to show that Christ \u201cgathers\u2026strangers,\u201d \u201ceases\u2026prejudice,\u201d \u201cclaims us\u201d and reveals \u201cvisions of a world at peace.\u201d The assembly bids a common refrain: \u201cWe praise you Christ! Your cross has made us one!\u201d The assembly sings the constant reminder that it is through the cross that Christ does these things. These words set to music and put on our lips are one way we respond with praise and engrain it in our hearts.<\/p>\n<p>The hymn text and tune were both written in 1984 and many Lutherans began to learn it when it was included in \u201cWith One Voice\u201d in 1995. The tune, CHRISTPRAISE RAY, is by composer <a href=\"http:\/\/singingprayer.com\">Carol Doran<\/a>, who has collaborated with Thomas Troeger on several hymns. Paul Westermeyer notes in the \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.augsburgfortress.org\/store\/product\/7476\/Hymnal-Companion-to-Evangelical-Lutheran-Worship\">Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship<\/a>\u201d that the tune represents a cross in the melody as the first line descends and the second line ascends. At the beginning of each stanza we sing \u201cOh Praise\u201d with an ascending melody, then at each refrain we ascend to sing \u201cWe praise,\u201d then again to \u201cyou Christ\u201d and one more time to a climatic note for \u201cyour cross.\u201d Musically, the cross of Christ stands at the center of not only the text, but also the music.<\/p>\n<p>If this hymn is not a part of your repertoire, I highly encourage learning it! The \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.augsburgfortress.org\/store\/product\/7471\/Musicians-Guide-to-Evangelical-Lutheran-Worship\">Musicians Guide to Evangelical Lutheran Worship<\/a>\u201d aptly suggests that the assembly may simply learn the refrain first with a choir or soloists singing the verses. Then having the assembly sing the verses on subsequent occasions. Once the assembly knows the hymn, it could be sung in alternatum (assigning different stanzas to different voices, such as higher voices, lower voices, pulpit side, font side).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-301 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/60\/2017\/02\/OhPraiseGraciousPower1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"141\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/60\/2017\/02\/OhPraiseGraciousPower1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/60\/2017\/02\/OhPraiseGraciousPower1-300x71.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/60\/2017\/02\/OhPraiseGraciousPower1-250x59.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Today&#8217;s post is from John Weit, Program Director for Music in the ELCA. &nbsp; On Feb. 19, many congregations will sing \u201cOh, Praise the Gracious Power\u201d (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, #651) in response to the readings from Paul about Christ as our foundation (1 Cor. 3:10-11, 16-23) and Jesus command to love our enemies (Mt. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Singing Our Faith: \u201cOh, Praise the Gracious Power\u201d - ELCA Worship<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worship\/300\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Singing Our Faith: \u201cOh, Praise the Gracious Power\u201d - ELCA Worship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Today&#8217;s post is from John Weit, Program Director for Music in the ELCA. &nbsp; On Feb. 19, many congregations will sing \u201cOh, Praise the Gracious Power\u201d (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, #651) in response to the readings from Paul about Christ as our foundation (1 Cor. 3:10-11, 16-23) and Jesus command to love our enemies (Mt. 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